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A.J. Hinch talks spring training, closers and raising the bar · Tiger Territory: A Detroit Tigers Podcast

• 0:09
  Speaker 1: And welcome into another episode of Tiger Territory, part of
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: the Foul Territory Network Detroit Tigers Podcast.
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: I'm Karen Steckley.
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: I got with me the Man with all the Questions,
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: Cody Stapanhagen and the Man with all the Answers, Detroit
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: Tiger's manager AJ.
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: What's up?
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: Aj? Thanks for coming on?
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: Hey, maybe I have some questions I want Cody to answer.
• 0:28
  Speaker 3: Hey, we can do that. I'm ready. I stay on
• 0:30
  Speaker 3: my toes.
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: Yeah, a little role reversal, nothing wrong with that. We
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: are recording this February second, in the early evening, which
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: means we are steam rolling tours, bring training. So AJ,
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: what's up? Like, where are you at mentally? What are
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: your days like right now? When it's like it's right there,
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: it's right there in front of.
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: Us, it is. It's the last week.
• 0:53
  Speaker 4: It comes fast, you know, the holidays hit, and then
• 0:56
  Speaker 4: January we had a we you know, we have a
• 1:00
  Speaker 4: cool month where we're sort of getting back in in
• 1:03
  Speaker 4: gear of things and and getting towards spring training. And
• 1:06
  Speaker 4: then you look up and you're like scheduling you know,
• 1:09
  Speaker 4: dinner with your family, dinner with your boys, dinner with
• 1:12
  Speaker 4: you know, a golf round or two before you get
• 1:13
  Speaker 4: out of town, and then poof, you're gone, and you
• 1:16
  Speaker 4: and we're all in Lakeland for seven weeks. So it
• 1:19
  Speaker 4: it happens fast that the work is still ongoing. We're
• 1:22
  Speaker 4: going through a bunch of sort of player entry type stuff,
• 1:27
  Speaker 4: you know, and how we're gonna roll these guys out
• 1:29
  Speaker 4: when we get into camp. My staff meetings are full underway,
• 1:33
  Speaker 4: and and just everybody's antsy to to get out. I
• 1:37
  Speaker 4: heard from Joey Kora who told me he wants to
• 1:39
  Speaker 4: get out of Pittsburgh, get out of the cold weather.
• 1:41
  Speaker 4: Lombard's already had Camp Lombard down in Miami. But Dar
• 1:46
  Speaker 4: newlywed Is is getting some player playing stuff ready for me.
• 1:50
  Speaker 4: FET's visiting some pictures. So like it's just it's it's
• 1:53
  Speaker 4: a it's just non game season for us right now.
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: We're we're ready to go.
• 1:58
  Speaker 3: A Jay, you're entering what you're six with the Tigers.
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: You've signed two contract extensions to stay here. If I
• 2:05
  Speaker 3: have this right, as of opening day, you will have
• 2:08
  Speaker 3: managed the Tigers longer than you did the Astros. Is
• 2:11
  Speaker 3: that weird to think about?
• 2:13
  Speaker 4: Pretty weird, you know, And I'm very proud but I
• 2:16
  Speaker 4: it feels like these years have flown by, especially the
• 2:20
  Speaker 4: last two years with the playoff teams, and you get
• 2:23
  Speaker 4: an extra part of the season and you get a
• 2:25
  Speaker 4: little shorter off season and then you're starting to build
• 2:28
  Speaker 4: something special. But it's been cool to be here this long.
• 2:32
  Speaker 4: I want to be here as long as as the
• 2:34
  Speaker 4: team will let me be. Scott has been incredible at
• 2:38
  Speaker 4: being proactive and being an incredible partner and bringing me
• 2:43
  Speaker 4: back year after year, and hopefully it's just a sign
• 2:47
  Speaker 4: of things to come. I love being a Tiger and
• 2:49
  Speaker 4: have a place in Detroit. We visit even in the winter,
• 2:53
  Speaker 4: in the cold months. We've come up there a couple
• 2:54
  Speaker 4: of different times and it's becoming a second home for us.
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: So you mentioned, you know a couple coming off excuse me,
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: back to back playoff appearances, and Cody and I talk,
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: and I believe you agreed with this last time you
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: were on. It's like, momentum doesn't necessarily like carry over
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: like year to year, per se, a different year, different team,
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: all that stuff, But what about something like identity, this
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: team identity carry over year to year, and if it does,
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: like how do you kind of reinforce reteach like strategize
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: like all that stuff to kind of get that you know,
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: what worked last year to still do it this year,
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: plus you know, whatever else.
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: You're working on.
• 3:38
  Speaker 4: Yeah, So, I mean personality and personnel is always going
• 3:41
  Speaker 4: to dictate kind of what a team's identity is. The players,
• 3:45
  Speaker 4: I think the culture is set, the expectations are set.
• 3:48
  Speaker 4: I mean they're growing, and they're bigger, and and and
• 3:52
  Speaker 4: you know, the conversations are are are broader and kind
• 3:55
  Speaker 4: of getting towards what we're after. Like we're talking about
• 3:58
  Speaker 4: wanting to win the division, we're talking about wanting to
• 4:00
  Speaker 4: win a World Series. You know, that's not necessarily how
• 4:03
  Speaker 4: it was when I first got here. We had to
• 4:05
  Speaker 4: establish some roots on what the culture is going to be.
• 4:08
  Speaker 4: And then now the identity year by year has to
• 4:10
  Speaker 4: be shaped by the personnel that we have. So whether
• 4:13
  Speaker 4: it's you know, how we roll out a rotation or
• 4:16
  Speaker 4: how we how we how we play, you know, are
• 4:20
  Speaker 4: we doing as many matchups, are we pinch hitting as much?
• 4:23
  Speaker 4: Are we you know, utilizing the same group of players.
• 4:26
  Speaker 4: It kind of depends on on who's on the team
• 4:28
  Speaker 4: right and what we've learned in the in the year. Now,
• 4:31
  Speaker 4: the identity part of like we're going to be a
• 4:33
  Speaker 4: tremendous strike throwing team, Like that's a staple of who
• 4:36
  Speaker 4: we're about. We're going to be a tremendous first a
• 4:38
  Speaker 4: third team. That's a tremendous part of our culture. We're
• 4:42
  Speaker 4: gonna you know, we have some some firepower that you know,
• 4:45
  Speaker 4: hitters who are growing in the big leagues and are
• 4:47
  Speaker 4: going to be hitting in the middle of the order,
• 4:50
  Speaker 4: of course.
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: So it's a.
• 4:51
  Speaker 4: Combo of like adapting to the personnel that you have
• 4:56
  Speaker 4: under the structure of like like we play hard, we
• 4:59
  Speaker 4: play fast, we play you know, right at that line
• 5:02
  Speaker 4: of aggressive and reckless, you know where we're trying to
• 5:05
  Speaker 4: push it. Put a lot of pressure on teams, and
• 5:08
  Speaker 4: we're going to pound the zone and we're going to
• 5:10
  Speaker 4: use our guys. So I think there's a combo answer
• 5:13
  Speaker 4: in there for you in how we go about it.
• 5:15
  Speaker 4: But I adapt along with, you know, with the personnel
• 5:19
  Speaker 4: choices and who's on this team and who's you know,
• 5:22
  Speaker 4: how young are we, how old are we, how how
• 5:25
  Speaker 4: established are we, and the expectations have grown to the
• 5:29
  Speaker 4: point of every player who walks in our clubhouse knows,
• 5:33
  Speaker 4: you know, we're about winning.
• 5:36
  Speaker 3: Hey, Jay, we're happy to have you on and we're
• 5:38
  Speaker 3: going to get into some season preview stuff, but we'd
• 5:41
  Speaker 3: probably be remiss if we didn't look back at least
• 5:44
  Speaker 3: a little bit. As you've had some time to reflect
• 5:47
  Speaker 3: on last season, what do you take away from I
• 5:51
  Speaker 3: guess the highs and the lows, Like, is there any
• 5:53
  Speaker 3: explaining what happened in the second half or do you
• 5:56
  Speaker 3: just forget that and move on.
• 5:59
  Speaker 4: I thought you were going to go out a Game
• 6:00
  Speaker 4: five and I was gonna say, I'm still not over
• 6:02
  Speaker 4: at Game five.
• 6:02
  Speaker 3: Yet I always say I don't remember Game five. It's
• 6:05
  Speaker 3: like a blur.
• 6:06
  Speaker 4: So yeah, I I Yeah, I've had a ton of time.
• 6:11
  Speaker 4: I mean, obviously it's you know, I'm very proud of
• 6:15
  Speaker 4: where we're at. I'm very proud of where we're going,
• 6:17
  Speaker 4: and it's hard not to have such a wide range
• 6:21
  Speaker 4: of emotions about last year. And I, you know, I
• 6:24
  Speaker 4: think back to when you and I first started talking
• 6:27
  Speaker 4: in twenty twenty one, and to think that all these
• 6:31
  Speaker 4: little things that come up, or all this this talk
• 6:33
  Speaker 4: around our team, how different is it over you know,
• 6:36
  Speaker 4: my fifth and sixth year, you know, as it was
• 6:39
  Speaker 4: in my first year. And I love that part. You know,
• 6:41
  Speaker 4: I love that we are held to a different higher bar.
• 6:44
  Speaker 4: But I've reflected back on last year. I have no
• 6:48
  Speaker 4: idea the pinpoint, the one thing that happened, you know,
• 6:52
  Speaker 4: other than you know, I got them a little bit
• 6:55
  Speaker 4: more rest this this offseason because we actually did make
• 6:58
  Speaker 4: the playoffs. We did win the playoff series in Cleveland.
• 7:01
  Speaker 4: We did get to Game five against Seattle, and it
• 7:04
  Speaker 4: was a coin toss of a of a game as
• 7:06
  Speaker 4: to who was going to win that and and we
• 7:08
  Speaker 4: matched up great with Toronto, who ended up representing the
• 7:10
  Speaker 4: American League in the World Series. All that's been incredible
• 7:15
  Speaker 4: and it's made me hungry for a little bit more.
• 7:17
  Speaker 4: We got to get better in in some areas. Uh.
• 7:20
  Speaker 4: We obviously have a few changes along the way, you know,
• 7:23
  Speaker 4: this offseason, both on the field also on my coaching staff,
• 7:28
  Speaker 4: and it's a new challenge work the back. We're at
• 7:30
  Speaker 4: the bottom of the mountain again and in the expectations
• 7:33
  Speaker 4: that we're going to be able to climb that mountain again,
• 7:36
  Speaker 4: we got a lot of work to do.
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: Well, you speak on like higher expectations, you know, externally,
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: and and we experienced that Cody and Ida, just like
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: with our listeners, and just like the questions that we
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: would get about why aren't the Tigers doing this, like
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: how come you know they're not trying to sign a
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: bet or you know whatever, And that's that speaks to
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: the high expectations because everybody wants like the next piece
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: or whatever. So I guess I would ask you, it's
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: not like there were no moves made by the Tigers
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: this offseason. What was your what was something? What was
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: your favorite move? What's the one that got you the
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: most excited? Uh with uh with not necessarily in addition
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: to the team and in the case of some guys,
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: but just like, what was the best move of the
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: off season for you?
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: What what makes you the most excited?
• 8:22
  Speaker 4: Yeah, well, I think I think I'll go this two
• 8:26
  Speaker 4: different ways. One is, I love the fact that guys
• 8:29
  Speaker 4: who have been here want to be here, right So
• 8:31
  Speaker 4: Glaber coming back, Jack coming back, Finnigan coming back like
• 8:35
  Speaker 4: that is you know, that's a cool feeling, as you
• 8:39
  Speaker 4: know in the trenches that what we're what we got
• 8:41
  Speaker 4: going on is something that guys that have experienced it
• 8:45
  Speaker 4: and want to be a part of it. Obviously, adding
• 8:48
  Speaker 4: Kenley is is a whole other level of you know,
• 8:51
  Speaker 4: of conversation and that what he brings his resume, that
• 8:54
  Speaker 4: he brings his presence, not just like his resume presence
• 8:58
  Speaker 4: like literally like this dude is he ormous and when
• 9:01
  Speaker 4: he comes out on the bound like has you know,
• 9:03
  Speaker 4: has the it factor. I think that's a that that's
• 9:07
  Speaker 4: a that's a great example of where our organization is
• 9:11
  Speaker 4: today as opposed to where it's been. So, you know,
• 9:14
  Speaker 4: the Drew Anderson coming back, I'm gonna be you know,
• 9:17
  Speaker 4: fascinating to get with him and see what his experience
• 9:20
  Speaker 4: overseas has you know, has been like and what and
• 9:24
  Speaker 4: we were so close to having him on our team
• 9:25
  Speaker 4: a couple of years ago, and and and now.
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: We get him back.
• 9:29
  Speaker 4: So I there's bits and pieces of every one of
• 9:31
  Speaker 4: these moves that you can break break down and you
• 9:33
  Speaker 4: can kind of figure out where it fits.
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: I mean, the the the.
• 9:37
  Speaker 4: Guys coming back who are hungry for more, who are
• 9:40
  Speaker 4: already in our culture, who are already in our in
• 9:43
  Speaker 4: our flow of.
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: How we do things.
• 9:45
  Speaker 4: I think is a is an exciting part of this
• 9:48
  Speaker 4: story that that or this offseason, I should say that
• 9:52
  Speaker 4: that that tells me we're doing a few things right.
• 9:55
  Speaker 3: Hey, Jay, you're probably aware there are people online who
• 9:58
  Speaker 3: have looked at some things you said at the end
• 10:00
  Speaker 3: of the year, namely the quote We're not going to
• 10:03
  Speaker 3: be naive and think that we're just going to run
• 10:05
  Speaker 3: it back and do this again as evidence. Oh, the
• 10:08
  Speaker 3: Tiger Shiv added more to their roster. Now I looked
• 10:11
  Speaker 3: back at that quote in the context, and you were
• 10:13
  Speaker 3: talking less about roster construction and more about I think
• 10:17
  Speaker 3: coaching and hitting philosophy and things along those lines. Right,
• 10:21
  Speaker 3: But the point kind of applies, how do you think
• 10:23
  Speaker 3: this team can be better with a very similar group
• 10:26
  Speaker 3: of what was a good team, But how can that
• 10:29
  Speaker 3: group get better in twenty twenty seven?
• 10:31
  Speaker 4: Yeah, Well, when you take a deep dive into the
• 10:33
  Speaker 4: offense and I know how tough you know August was
• 10:39
  Speaker 4: and into September, and it coincided with, you know, the
• 10:43
  Speaker 4: the wins and losses being very evident in the lead
• 10:47
  Speaker 4: shrinking and then losing the lead and then now we're chasing, right,
• 10:51
  Speaker 4: So that in itself was like it was a tough
• 10:55
  Speaker 4: experience I think for all of our guys. When you
• 10:57
  Speaker 4: take a step back and get away from that range
• 10:59
  Speaker 4: of emotion over those six weeks, you know, we have
• 11:02
  Speaker 4: pretty young offense. We have a pretty good offense, and
• 11:06
  Speaker 4: if we had role reversed that and had two months
• 11:09
  Speaker 4: at the beginning of the season miserable and then sort
• 11:13
  Speaker 4: of elevated the offense throughout the season, everybody's perspective would change, right,
• 11:18
  Speaker 4: So I got to deal with reality, Like we scored
• 11:20
  Speaker 4: the most runs that we have since like the heyday
• 11:23
  Speaker 4: of like what as of thirteen fourteen fifteen, when that
• 11:27
  Speaker 4: roster was churning out a ton of runs, Like we
• 11:30
  Speaker 4: went from a top ten out offense to outside the
• 11:33
  Speaker 4: top ten to the eleven. So I do want to
• 11:35
  Speaker 4: give the players credit for what we actually did, not
• 11:39
  Speaker 4: necessarily in love with how things sort of got away
• 11:42
  Speaker 4: from us a little bit and we lost the Al Central.
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: But I do think we have some pretty good players.
• 11:48
  Speaker 4: At the All Star break, when you're telling Zach McKinstry
• 11:51
  Speaker 4: and Glabor Torres and Hobby Baiaz and Riley Green that
• 11:54
  Speaker 4: they're All Stars along with some of our pitchers with
• 11:57
  Speaker 4: Terrek and Casey, you're like, that is.
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: That's a good team, And so running it.
• 12:02
  Speaker 4: Back doesn't mean that you have to have every external
• 12:05
  Speaker 4: answer and go and grab somebody else's player. I know,
• 12:09
  Speaker 4: Scott and Jeff and everybody in the front office is
• 12:12
  Speaker 4: trying to continue to to chip away at at at
• 12:16
  Speaker 4: at adding talent to this organization. It might be internal,
• 12:18
  Speaker 4: it might be some guys getting better off our team,
• 12:20
  Speaker 4: but you have to recognize like the actual team that
• 12:24
  Speaker 4: we have and getting Parker Meadows back is a big
• 12:27
  Speaker 4: is a big deal. Getting matt Erling back is going
• 12:29
  Speaker 4: to be a big deal, and then we.
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: Got to go get better.
• 12:33
  Speaker 4: And so running it back just means you're not going
• 12:34
  Speaker 4: to throw the balls out there and just kind of
• 12:36
  Speaker 4: run out the same cadence and run out the same
• 12:40
  Speaker 4: lineup hoping that it's going to be the same. It's
• 12:42
  Speaker 4: it's a combination of of of some personnel, some philosophy,
• 12:47
  Speaker 4: some offseason direct feedback to players on how they how
• 12:52
  Speaker 4: they got to get better and what they have to impact.
• 12:54
  Speaker 4: Jami Jones, we brought him up. He wasn't a factor
• 12:56
  Speaker 4: at this point last year. Dylan Dingler not really a
• 12:59
  Speaker 4: fact at this point last year. You know, there's there
• 13:03
  Speaker 4: are stories that are going to come out of a
• 13:05
  Speaker 4: young player or a returning player who takes a step forward.
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: How are we talking about Tork this time last year?
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: Versus how we talk about Torque Now.
• 13:14
  Speaker 4: I mean there's there's there are some some positive things
• 13:18
  Speaker 4: that can happen by how we handle the last few
• 13:21
  Speaker 4: months and then combine that with Glabor is an addition,
• 13:25
  Speaker 4: Like getting Kyle Finnegan a full year is an addition.
• 13:28
  Speaker 4: Ken Lee Jansen is an addition, Drew Anderson is an addition.
• 13:31
  Speaker 4: Getting Jackson back at some point during this season is
• 13:34
  Speaker 4: going to be an addition. So we have to deal
• 13:37
  Speaker 4: with what what with a team that we have on
• 13:39
  Speaker 4: the field, and I want to deal in realities of
• 13:41
  Speaker 4: how we actually played as opposed to how we emotionally
• 13:45
  Speaker 4: felt like we played. Our guys are pissed off that
• 13:48
  Speaker 4: we lost a division. Some of that some of that
• 13:52
  Speaker 4: felt better when we went back to Cleveland and beat
• 13:54
  Speaker 4: them in a playoff series. I would rather have had
• 13:57
  Speaker 4: it happen that way than have won the division and
• 13:59
  Speaker 4: lost in the first round of the playoffs. But our
• 14:02
  Speaker 4: players deserve credit for who they are and what they're
• 14:05
  Speaker 4: doing and what we actually did well, not just assume
• 14:09
  Speaker 4: that the upgrade is, you know, is outside our circle.
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: Well, you mentioned Parker Meadows, and Parker Meadows I think
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: probably has the.
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: Like what he can do.
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: Approval rating is probably among the highest on the team.
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: Like everybody realizes like externally, like what how why he
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: is so important? So I'm curious from your perspective, the
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: organization's perspective, like why is a healthy and productive Parker
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: meadows like so vital to what you know you guys
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: can achieve.
• 14:45
  Speaker 4: Yeah, well I would put him on the field, you know,
• 14:48
  Speaker 4: one hundred and sixty two games if he if his
• 14:51
  Speaker 4: body can hold out, because that the impact he brings
• 14:54
  Speaker 4: his glove and his legs every day and so what
• 14:57
  Speaker 4: he does in the outfield both a Chmerican on the
• 15:01
  Speaker 4: you know, we were fortunate Hobby went out there and
• 15:04
  Speaker 4: played really well.
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: But there's a stability that.
• 15:06
  Speaker 4: Comes with the center fielder being on the field and
• 15:10
  Speaker 4: being an impact defender. What we saw in the latter
• 15:14
  Speaker 4: part of twenty four and into the playoffs was an
• 15:18
  Speaker 4: emerging impact player. And that's the player that we know
• 15:22
  Speaker 4: is in there. We have to get it out of
• 15:23
  Speaker 4: him a little bit more. We got to get him
• 15:25
  Speaker 4: on the field. We got to get ball and play
• 15:26
  Speaker 4: a little bit. He controls the strike zone. We got
• 15:29
  Speaker 4: to get him off first base and get him using
• 15:31
  Speaker 4: his legs on the bases a little bit more. But
• 15:34
  Speaker 4: no matter what happens at the plate or on the bases,
• 15:38
  Speaker 4: that dude can play center field, you know, with the
• 15:40
  Speaker 4: best of them, and we want him on the field
• 15:43
  Speaker 4: as we are a ball and play type of pitching staff.
• 15:45
  Speaker 4: We are in a big ballpark where you feel like
• 15:48
  Speaker 4: you need four outfielders instead of three, and Parker being
• 15:53
  Speaker 4: in the middle of it is just a stability that
• 15:56
  Speaker 4: we didn't have for a large portion of the year.
• 15:58
  Speaker 4: Like I said, I love what Hobby did there. We
• 16:01
  Speaker 4: sprinkled in Wenzel, we sprinkled in in Fearling, We tried.
• 16:06
  Speaker 4: You know, we want to keep Riley on the corner,
• 16:08
  Speaker 4: so there he so many decisions are shaped by having
• 16:11
  Speaker 4: a healthy and productive Parker meadows in center field regardless
• 16:16
  Speaker 4: of where he hits in the lineup. I mean, I'm
• 16:18
  Speaker 4: I desperately want him to hit at the top because
• 16:21
  Speaker 4: the good version of him gets on base, hits the
• 16:23
  Speaker 4: ball hard, has a little bit of power, you know,
• 16:27
  Speaker 4: can be a threat on the basis to where when.
• 16:29
  Speaker 2: Riley gets up the four holes open.
• 16:32
  Speaker 4: You know, things that that impact the game that aren't
• 16:34
  Speaker 4: necessarily on the baseball card. And I don't I'm every
• 16:38
  Speaker 4: time he throws in spring training to second base, I'm
• 16:40
  Speaker 4: gonna be like holding my breath because it was a
• 16:43
  Speaker 4: simple play like that that that cost us the first,
• 16:46
  Speaker 4: you know, two thirds of the season.
• 16:50
  Speaker 3: I remember seeing him like walking to a medical tint
• 16:52
  Speaker 3: and being like, he looks fine, It's probably no big deal.
• 16:55
  Speaker 4: And then I know, you know what, I'm Cuddy, I
• 16:58
  Speaker 4: would tell you after the game it was no big deal.
• 16:59
  Speaker 4: And I I mean that particular day, you know it,
• 17:05
  Speaker 4: that's just that you don't know until the next day.
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: It felt like a little stinger or something.
• 17:08
  Speaker 4: And the next thing, you know, I'm trying to artfully
• 17:11
  Speaker 4: describe an injury i'd never heard of.
• 17:14
  Speaker 3: You know, one of the perks of your job, right, yeah, exactly, exactly,
• 17:19
  Speaker 3: all right. In terms of the things that are different,
• 17:21
  Speaker 3: we've already mentioned kim Lee Jansen. So the timeless question
• 17:24
  Speaker 3: for your five plus give it to me. Are you
• 17:28
  Speaker 3: going to have a closer?
• 17:30
  Speaker 4: So can we talk about the closer role for a minute,
• 17:33
  Speaker 4: because I had great So I know, I get sort
• 17:37
  Speaker 4: of this mainstream like thought that I don't like the closer,
• 17:41
  Speaker 4: and I started looking back, I do a little bit
• 17:43
  Speaker 4: of research myself, I've I've always had a twenty plus
• 17:47
  Speaker 4: game saves leader on this team as a Tiger right.
• 17:51
  Speaker 4: Two playoff teams, three non playoff teams. The guy who
• 17:54
  Speaker 4: had the most saves who was deemed the closer was
• 17:56
  Speaker 4: Greg Risoto. He had thirty in like twenty one or
• 17:59
  Speaker 4: twenty too. I think fully got close, Lang got closed.
• 18:02
  Speaker 4: So what I want out of the closer role is,
• 18:06
  Speaker 4: of course I tend to show you by my behavior,
• 18:09
  Speaker 4: like of course we're gonna have a closer.
• 18:11
  Speaker 2: Naming them sets up sets.
• 18:13
  Speaker 4: The player up for a little bit of failure because
• 18:16
  Speaker 4: if I ever use him out of order, like he
• 18:18
  Speaker 4: loses his mind or he's not mentally ready to pitch.
• 18:21
  Speaker 4: It also creates this this sort of fake role for
• 18:25
  Speaker 4: the fans and for our people that follow our team
• 18:27
  Speaker 4: is that the only path to win is backwards. And
• 18:30
  Speaker 4: so from a mentality standpoint, the reason I don't love
• 18:33
  Speaker 4: that title is because I get our players in the
• 18:36
  Speaker 4: mindset that they'll do anything to help us win that day,
• 18:40
  Speaker 4: and I'm really prepping, whether it's ken Lee vest Finnigan,
• 18:44
  Speaker 4: for that random sixth inning where I'm like, I gotta pull,
• 18:48
  Speaker 4: I gotta pull a lever.
• 18:49
  Speaker 2: To try to win this game.
• 18:51
  Speaker 4: They're all available and that won't really surprise them, so
• 18:55
  Speaker 4: I'm not I'm just motivating them to be able to
• 18:57
  Speaker 4: be on board and have a mentality to help win.
• 19:01
  Speaker 4: It will fall into the natural roles like a lot
• 19:03
  Speaker 4: of people do. But like one day that I like
• 19:06
  Speaker 4: one guy in the seventh over one guy in the eighth,
• 19:08
  Speaker 4: I don't want that to unravel in their mentals and
• 19:12
  Speaker 4: as they're prepping to be the best version of themselves.
• 19:15
  Speaker 2: So I think they're all gonna get saves.
• 19:17
  Speaker 4: I think we can pretty much guess how it's gonna go,
• 19:21
  Speaker 4: given that one of them has a historic number of
• 19:24
  Speaker 4: you know of saves on his resume. But I'm not
• 19:27
  Speaker 4: just going to go that way because I'm supposed to
• 19:30
  Speaker 4: do it. I'm going that way because I think it's
• 19:32
  Speaker 4: the best way for us to win. And if it
• 19:34
  Speaker 4: emerges where a different order is the right order, I'm
• 19:39
  Speaker 4: gonna do it. And I've done it for the last
• 19:41
  Speaker 4: few years where I've I have flipped it over to
• 19:43
  Speaker 4: Will vest Nobody expected Will to get twenty plus saves
• 19:46
  Speaker 4: last year, especially not when we were talking now. So
• 19:49
  Speaker 4: I love closers because you know, it means that we're winning,
• 19:53
  Speaker 4: and it means I'm handing the ball to some nasty
• 19:56
  Speaker 4: dude who's gonna go get the last three outs. I
• 19:59
  Speaker 4: just don't want our players with the mentality that's the
• 20:01
  Speaker 4: only time they can pitch. And ken Lee was awesome
• 20:05
  Speaker 4: when I talked to him about it, and he was like, oh,
• 20:06
  Speaker 4: it makes total sense. So as will so is Finny
• 20:10
  Speaker 4: and and those guys are all gonna gonna pitch when
• 20:13
  Speaker 4: we're winning and be a huge part of why we
• 20:16
  Speaker 4: expect to have a winning season. There's my rant on closers.
• 20:22
  Speaker 5: I've heard it before, but it's good to keep spreading
• 20:26
  Speaker 5: the word, right.
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I just says that's why, that's what it means.
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: Well, I'll say this, like, having watched or listened to
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: probably ninety seven ninety eight percent of your pressers like that,
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: has it made an impression on me about that because
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: I started thinking, well, wait a second, you you can't
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: get to the ninth without going through the eighth, and
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: you can't get to the eighth without going through the seventh.
• 20:54
  Speaker 2: So you know, it's you.
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: Know, there's only so many innings in a baseball game.
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: They're all pretty important, so uh, that will one of
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: the things. I kind of had to rewire my brain
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: a little bit.
• 21:03
  Speaker 3: Uh.
• 21:03
  Speaker 4: I just here the other the other part of that, Karen,
• 21:06
  Speaker 4: what you say is like you also don't want to
• 21:08
  Speaker 4: lose holding on to a to a lever that you
• 21:11
  Speaker 4: can pull right. So like if you have you have
• 21:15
  Speaker 4: the right guy for that. So for example, it's a
• 21:18
  Speaker 4: it's pretty simple. Like the three guys at the back
• 21:21
  Speaker 4: end that everybody's gonna talk about have different weapons.
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: So Finnegan has.
• 21:25
  Speaker 4: The velo and he has a split vest, has the
• 21:27
  Speaker 4: four pitch mix and and an incredible hop on his fastball.
• 21:31
  Speaker 4: Kenley's balls cutting back to how he was a few
• 21:34
  Speaker 4: years ago, especially after the outing that he had against us.
• 21:36
  Speaker 4: So if I have a guy, a group of players
• 21:40
  Speaker 4: in the seventh or eighth with the the when the ball,
• 21:42
  Speaker 4: when the when the ball can cut on this guy
• 21:44
  Speaker 4: and he runs out of bat a bunch of right
• 21:46
  Speaker 4: handed hitters against Houston or Toronto or or the Yankees,
• 21:50
  Speaker 4: and I need that guy in that inning in the
• 21:53
  Speaker 4: seventh or eighth. Would you pitch the guy who can
• 21:55
  Speaker 4: cut it? Or would you just pitch the guy who
• 21:57
  Speaker 4: pitches the seventh or eight inning? Like that's the dilemma
• 22:01
  Speaker 4: that we face, and it takes a long time to
• 22:03
  Speaker 4: get your players to actually buy into like, oh, that
• 22:06
  Speaker 4: makes a ton of sense, and Kenley bought in right away.
• 22:09
  Speaker 4: But that's the method is like I just don't want
• 22:11
  Speaker 4: to lose the game over some sort of predisposed title,
• 22:16
  Speaker 4: where then now you're entitled to only pitch a certain inning.
• 22:20
  Speaker 4: My behavior has been quite consistent with, like, the dudes
• 22:24
  Speaker 4: are going to get to back end. The guy who's
• 22:26
  Speaker 4: performing is going to get to back end. And I've
• 22:29
  Speaker 4: utilized that and gotten twenty plus saves for somebody, you know,
• 22:32
  Speaker 4: every year i've been here.
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: So basically the problem is the fact that the save
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: is a metric that is on the back of the
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: baseball card. That that that's really the.
• 22:42
  Speaker 4: Main issue if you, I mean, if we're I mean
• 22:44
  Speaker 4: in the world of philosophy, it's it ties into compensation,
• 22:47
  Speaker 4: It ties into two status, It ties into who makes
• 22:51
  Speaker 4: the All Star team, It ties into a lot of things,
• 22:53
  Speaker 4: a lot of perks that come with that ninth inning.
• 22:56
  Speaker 4: And deservingly so that's a hard inning, Like there's a
• 22:59
  Speaker 4: lot on the line when that dude, that dude only
• 23:01
  Speaker 4: gets talked to by the media whenever he sets a
• 23:03
  Speaker 4: record or or blows the game right. So there is
• 23:07
  Speaker 4: a there's an element to that, that role that I
• 23:11
  Speaker 4: know why it's so attractive. It's the same with the rotation.
• 23:13
  Speaker 4: Why do guys want to make starts? You know, it's
• 23:15
  Speaker 4: tied into all of that behind the scenes. I think
• 23:18
  Speaker 4: as a team, you know, the one area of our
• 23:23
  Speaker 4: of our sport where it doesn't come up is the playoffs.
• 23:27
  Speaker 4: No one cares when you pitch the sixth inning of
• 23:28
  Speaker 4: the playoff game because it is it is all hands
• 23:31
  Speaker 4: on deck Game seven of the World Series. Every game
• 23:34
  Speaker 4: in the playoffs, we'll have our guys ready and they'll
• 23:37
  Speaker 4: know their roles and they're all bought in. I just
• 23:40
  Speaker 4: happened to have three guys who had twenty saves last year,
• 23:43
  Speaker 4: you know, at our discretion, and that is not a problem.
• 23:46
  Speaker 4: That is a that is a benefit, that's a perk.
• 23:49
  Speaker 3: Another good way to think about these things. That's help
• 23:51
  Speaker 3: people sometimes, like all the outs count the same, they're
• 23:54
  Speaker 3: all won twenty seventh of the pie. They might not
• 23:57
  Speaker 3: all feel the same, but they all ultimately the same.
• 24:01
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 24:01
  Speaker 4: I just I know in the in the fantasy baseball world,
• 24:04
  Speaker 4: I'm not the most beloved manager, and how I use
• 24:07
  Speaker 4: my how I use my pen. But but I, but I,
• 24:11
  Speaker 4: I wholeheartedly believe the best way is to have your
• 24:14
  Speaker 4: guys available to pitch.
• 24:16
  Speaker 2: You know, when you need them the most.
• 24:19
  Speaker 3: All right, I would love to keep nerding out about closers.
• 24:22
  Speaker 3: We do have a few more topics we want to
• 24:24
  Speaker 3: get to. Here's one that there's this guy in your system.
• 24:28
  Speaker 3: I don't know if you've heard of him. He's a
• 24:29
  Speaker 3: he's a left hander. I think his name is Tarik
• 24:31
  Speaker 3: or something like that, Terrek Scuoble. He's been the topic
• 24:36
  Speaker 3: of the off season, from trade rumors to now go
• 24:38
  Speaker 3: into an arbitration hearing. It seems a lot of that
• 24:43
  Speaker 3: is outside your purview. But have you talked with him?
• 24:46
  Speaker 3: Is do you have any role in kind of this
• 24:48
  Speaker 3: Ark Schooble off season?
• 24:51
  Speaker 4: So I just spent a few days with him in
• 24:52
  Speaker 4: New York when he got his sow young.
• 24:55
  Speaker 2: You know, I my wife and I.
• 24:57
  Speaker 4: Went and and and got to hang a little bit
• 25:00
  Speaker 4: with him and celebrate with him and his family and
• 25:02
  Speaker 4: his his inner circle.
• 25:03
  Speaker 2: And he's in a really great place.
• 25:06
  Speaker 4: And and I love kind of how he's handled the
• 25:11
  Speaker 4: public nature of his of his off season and the
• 25:14
  Speaker 4: private nature of his off season. On the on the
• 25:17
  Speaker 4: public side, you know, he's separated, I think business in baseball.
• 25:22
  Speaker 4: He knows that there is a contractual part of it.
• 25:24
  Speaker 4: He's never brought it in our clubhouse, has never really
• 25:26
  Speaker 4: been a huge topic. He knows I am a confidant
• 25:29
  Speaker 4: if he wants to talk to me about it. But
• 25:32
  Speaker 4: that's a different that's a sort of a different aspect
• 25:35
  Speaker 4: of his baseball career that he's been probably introduced to
• 25:38
  Speaker 4: over the last couple of seasons as he's grown into,
• 25:41
  Speaker 4: you know, the most dominant pitcher in baseball.
• 25:43
  Speaker 2: The private side of him, we've got.
• 25:46
  Speaker 4: To keep the the environment and the you know, the
• 25:51
  Speaker 4: hunger and the preparation and the work. We got to
• 25:55
  Speaker 4: keep pushing him. And so, you know, my role in
• 25:59
  Speaker 4: in this ole, you know, sort of year for him
• 26:04
  Speaker 4: is to is to continue to create an environment that
• 26:08
  Speaker 4: he thrives under. Because what Fet and Robin and Wan
• 26:12
  Speaker 4: and the group on the pitching side has been able
• 26:14
  Speaker 4: to get him in a place to compete, and then
• 26:16
  Speaker 4: what he's done on the field when he's competing is
• 26:20
  Speaker 4: second to none. And so for us, like we focus
• 26:24
  Speaker 4: entirely on that and let the business aspect of his situation,
• 26:30
  Speaker 4: you know, happen with his people and support them the
• 26:32
  Speaker 4: best that we can. So I know it's been a
• 26:36
  Speaker 4: you know, I know that this off season for him
• 26:38
  Speaker 4: has been He's been as public as as anybody's off season.
• 26:42
  Speaker 4: There's nothing he can do that doesn't sort of get
• 26:45
  Speaker 4: talked about, or all these trade comments, or all the arbitration,
• 26:49
  Speaker 4: the contract, the free agent year, the it could be
• 26:53
  Speaker 4: a distraction if he allowed it. That's just not how
• 26:56
  Speaker 4: he's wired. And I've watched him and stayed in touch
• 26:59
  Speaker 4: with him all off season and to support him in
• 27:03
  Speaker 4: getting ready to have you know what could be a
• 27:06
  Speaker 4: you know, historic third year in a row where he
• 27:09
  Speaker 4: wins the cy Young I mean, I know, a couple
• 27:10
  Speaker 4: of guys of their name, Maddox and Randy Johnson, those
• 27:13
  Speaker 4: are pretty big company that were starting to get into
• 27:17
  Speaker 4: and he knows that that he's got full support by
• 27:22
  Speaker 4: all of us to be great again.
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: Well, one thing that's undeniable about School is that he
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: is obviously face of the organization, one of the faces
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: of baseball period, and along with that goes he's going
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: to be participating in the World Baseball Classics. So I'm curious,
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: how do you, as a manager of a Major League
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: Baseball team view the World Baseball Classic.
• 27:48
  Speaker 2: I mean, like watch it, like are you watching it?
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: Like a certain level of anxiety now, like not just school,
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: but anybody else, like you know, hoping you know, doesn't
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: get hurt. And these are highly competitive games, teas AJ.
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: Is there any scouting going on because these are highly
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: competitive games earlier than in a normal year.
• 28:08
  Speaker 4: Yeah, so I will. I will definitely be watching. And
• 28:12
  Speaker 4: because I'm a baseball fan, I love I love the sport.
• 28:15
  Speaker 4: I love the the competition, I like the theater around
• 28:19
  Speaker 4: the WBC.
• 28:20
  Speaker 2: It's really hard time of year to love it when
• 28:24
  Speaker 2: it's happening, you know.
• 28:26
  Speaker 4: Now, I would tell you I've seen video of some
• 28:28
  Speaker 4: of our guys throwing ninety eight, ninety nine and one hundred,
• 28:31
  Speaker 4: Like these guys are are are wired differently, and they're
• 28:35
  Speaker 4: more ready for spring training than ever before. I just
• 28:39
  Speaker 4: don't want anything to happen to our players or anybody
• 28:41
  Speaker 4: else's players during this this you know, exhibition of like
• 28:45
  Speaker 4: pretty incredible baseball. Like I love the Otani trout stuff
• 28:49
  Speaker 4: from from previous years, Like I love the emotion that
• 28:53
  Speaker 4: I see from Puerto Rico and Venezuela and the Dominican
• 28:56
  Speaker 4: and just the culture. You know, you have a Rosa
• 28:59
  Speaker 4: rain up playing in for Mexico. Like there's just so
• 29:02
  Speaker 4: much joy that these guys play with. So I love
• 29:05
  Speaker 4: that experience for them. I just hope that nobody comes
• 29:09
  Speaker 4: back a little more beat up than they were before.
• 29:13
  Speaker 4: And so, you know, the the conversations around the baseball
• 29:17
  Speaker 4: is like, Okay, if if the player is going to
• 29:19
  Speaker 4: do it, my staff's job is to make sure that
• 29:22
  Speaker 4: they're ready to do it. Like you know, whether it's
• 29:25
  Speaker 4: Hobby Bayas, is it shortstop, is it center field?
• 29:27
  Speaker 2: Is a third base? Is at second base? Glabor?
• 29:30
  Speaker 4: You know, coming off of off season surgery, is he
• 29:33
  Speaker 4: going to be ready to actually do it? So I'm
• 29:35
  Speaker 4: in touch with Omar Lopez, who's the manager of Team Venezuela.
• 29:39
  Speaker 4: Happened to happen to work with me in Houston, Like
• 29:41
  Speaker 4: I got to get them ready, you know. So that's
• 29:44
  Speaker 4: that's the part to me, that that my job is
• 29:46
  Speaker 4: to get them ready the best we can and then
• 29:49
  Speaker 4: educate him to communicate. You know, it's you know, you
• 29:52
  Speaker 4: don't really want your relievers going back to back, you
• 29:55
  Speaker 4: don't really. You want to make sure that they that
• 29:57
  Speaker 4: their lives are maybe a little bit earlier in the
• 30:00
  Speaker 4: Michael than before. Like I think Cody's covered this before.
• 30:03
  Speaker 4: Like generally speaking, the relievers, your main relievers get a
• 30:08
  Speaker 4: later start in the spring.
• 30:10
  Speaker 2: Right, So it's Will Ves, it's Tyler Holton.
• 30:13
  Speaker 4: You know, it's gonna be Finnegan, it's gonna be ken Lee,
• 30:16
  Speaker 4: And they're like, oops, Kenley's playing in the WBC. We
• 30:19
  Speaker 4: need to move him in a different group and get
• 30:21
  Speaker 4: him ready to compete a little bit faster. And so
• 30:24
  Speaker 4: it started right when we signed him to know like
• 30:27
  Speaker 4: how many throws you're doing, what's the distance, when's your
• 30:30
  Speaker 4: first pen, how many hitters have you faced? And then
• 30:33
  Speaker 4: and then prep them to go because like as coaches
• 30:36
  Speaker 4: and as the manager, you cannot want him to play.
• 30:40
  Speaker 4: But if they were my son, or if they were
• 30:43
  Speaker 4: like somebody that wanted to get that live playing in
• 30:45
  Speaker 4: the Olympics in nineteen ninety six, Like to this day
• 30:48
  Speaker 4: love telling stories about that team that I never would
• 30:51
  Speaker 4: have gotten if I if I hadn't experienced it.
• 30:56
  Speaker 3: Back to some of the players who will be in camp,
• 30:59
  Speaker 3: You're gonna have a good rotation competition. As always, you're
• 31:04
  Speaker 3: gonna have five, six, seven, eight guys you probably feel
• 31:06
  Speaker 3: good about in theory competing for five spots. How do
• 31:11
  Speaker 3: you handle that one as a manager knowing injuries are
• 31:14
  Speaker 3: also an inevitable factor a lot of the time.
• 31:17
  Speaker 4: Yeah, it's hard for the younger guys to really to
• 31:20
  Speaker 4: really grab a hold out. I mean, I had a
• 31:21
  Speaker 4: number of conversations last year with cater Montero, who continued
• 31:26
  Speaker 4: to be the updown guy and then all of a sudden,
• 31:29
  Speaker 4: I'm handing them the ball in Game five of a
• 31:31
  Speaker 4: playoff series and he's lights out in the bullpen, and
• 31:34
  Speaker 4: so you know, he was that guy that would come
• 31:36
  Speaker 4: up pitch well, get sent back down, and there's some
• 31:39
  Speaker 4: rules that you can only do that. I think it's
• 31:41
  Speaker 4: five times during the year, and we were close with
• 31:45
  Speaker 4: him and a couple other pitchers, and so, you know,
• 31:48
  Speaker 4: we have to prepare each player individually for what they're
• 31:53
  Speaker 4: going to be asked to do in the season. As
• 31:56
  Speaker 4: competitions go, you kind of got to be open, you know,
• 31:59
  Speaker 4: for any sort of surprise or maybe a shift of
• 32:02
  Speaker 4: the bullpen or you know, generally speaking about halfway through,
• 32:06
  Speaker 4: we can decide to veer one way or the other
• 32:09
  Speaker 4: when it comes to rotation versus the bullpen, and and
• 32:12
  Speaker 4: feel pretty good about the time we have to prep
• 32:14
  Speaker 4: them to be ready for the season. But it's constant communication,
• 32:18
  Speaker 4: it's constant motivation. My experience has told me, just be
• 32:22
  Speaker 4: dead straight with them, like everybody knows sort of where
• 32:27
  Speaker 4: the breaking point is. And if you're in the competition
• 32:30
  Speaker 4: and your job's not secure, tell them if you are,
• 32:34
  Speaker 4: you're solely in the you're on the team, Like, tell them, right.
• 32:39
  Speaker 4: Just make sure that everybody knows has has their footing
• 32:41
  Speaker 4: when they get to spring training, so that they know
• 32:43
  Speaker 4: what to expect. The tough ones come, and we've had
• 32:47
  Speaker 4: a number of these over the last few years. Is
• 32:49
  Speaker 4: when you get a surprise the positive way, super easy, right, Hey,
• 32:52
  Speaker 4: this dude pitched really well in spring, or he's showing
• 32:55
  Speaker 4: increased velocity or increase beasts feed and the ball and play.
• 33:00
  Speaker 2: And like that's easy.
• 33:01
  Speaker 4: What happens if you get a surprise the other way
• 33:04
  Speaker 4: and all of a sudden, the guy has a really
• 33:06
  Speaker 4: tough spring and he was a bubble to begin with.
• 33:09
  Speaker 4: You got to make sure your communication is is sort
• 33:13
  Speaker 4: of on point and consistent from the get go. And
• 33:17
  Speaker 4: I've found it being dead honest with these guys of
• 33:20
  Speaker 4: not everybody's gonna make this team is a message I'm
• 33:22
  Speaker 4: gonna have to send and they know that I'm I'm telling.
• 33:25
  Speaker 2: Them the truth.
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: Well, a couple guys that figure to be in that
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: competition you're gonna have to have honest conversations with. And
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: then you know, with your staff and in front office,
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: there are the Max clarks and Kevin mcgonagall's of the world,
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: who again I can speak for. You know, fans are
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: very excited to see what these guys can do, like
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: as they kind of push toward the major league level
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: and then will he make the team? Will he not
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: make the team? All that stuff. So I'm kind of curious,
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: like how do you sort of manage like these high
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: end prospects that have the world in front of them
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: and the potential through the roof and getting them major
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: league ready whenever that is, but major league ready while
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: also having a squad that's been the Game five of
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: the DS back to back years. Because I was thinking
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: about this, like, it's different than when you were doing
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: this with Torque and Green, because that was a team
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: that was not coming off like you know, a deep
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: playoff run in consecutive seasons like this is already made
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: playoff team, literally, and then you have these prospects that
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: you kind of.
• 34:30
  Speaker 2: Have to manage up.
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: So how how do you anticipate, you know, going about
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: that in the best way.
• 34:35
  Speaker 4: Well, when they walk in the clubhouse, there will be
• 34:38
  Speaker 4: an initial wow factor for them. Right, if you're Kevin
• 34:43
  Speaker 4: McGonagall and you're in the infield group, you're gonna look
• 34:45
  Speaker 4: to your left and you're gonna see Labor Torres. You're
• 34:47
  Speaker 4: gonna look to your right, you're gonna see Hobby, You're
• 34:49
  Speaker 4: gonna see Torque, You're gonna see an all star in
• 34:52
  Speaker 4: Zach McKinstry. Like there's you're looking around like these guys
• 34:55
  Speaker 4: have done a few things and are pretty established. Max
• 34:59
  Speaker 4: is gonna go out and obviously he knows our guys
• 35:01
  Speaker 4: and knows Riley, and he'll see Parker, he'll see a
• 35:04
  Speaker 4: healthy vere Leing, and the team in itself will will
• 35:08
  Speaker 4: feel different because that's a room that they've never been in.
• 35:11
  Speaker 4: My job is to try to bring them and let
• 35:14
  Speaker 4: them be themselves, and bring them in and let them
• 35:15
  Speaker 4: be themselves, and so the player experience will will will
• 35:20
  Speaker 4: be up to Terek and Torque and Greeneye and Glabur.
• 35:24
  Speaker 2: And all those guys I just mentioned.
• 35:25
  Speaker 4: The me getting them to be themselves is the single
• 35:28
  Speaker 4: biggest thing that I can do in this camp, because
• 35:33
  Speaker 4: like we're bringing the dude we saw in the Fall
• 35:36
  Speaker 4: League from McGonagall, the guy who's comfortable in the box.
• 35:39
  Speaker 4: He's putting in good swings, he's playing a good defense,
• 35:41
  Speaker 4: he's learning third base, but he's you know, he's played
• 35:44
  Speaker 4: a ton of shortstop. We're bringing, you know, a a
• 35:48
  Speaker 4: high energy Max Clark who you know, who can impact
• 35:53
  Speaker 4: the ball. He can impact on the bases, Like just
• 35:55
  Speaker 4: be yourself. Lorenzo had a little bit of that experience
• 35:58
  Speaker 4: last year. How you Lee came last year. These guys
• 36:01
  Speaker 4: that were teammates with them in the minor leagues before
• 36:03
  Speaker 4: can help them sort of settle in and go be yourself.
• 36:08
  Speaker 4: That's the biggest thing that they can do in this camp.
• 36:10
  Speaker 4: And then they'll learn, you know, by being in that
• 36:14
  Speaker 4: clubhouse every day. You'll see the routines that are built.
• 36:17
  Speaker 4: You know, you'll see the communication. I meet with the
• 36:19
  Speaker 4: team every day in spring. I don't do that during
• 36:21
  Speaker 4: the season, but we have a lot of information and
• 36:24
  Speaker 4: a lot of examples and a lot of teaching that
• 36:25
  Speaker 4: goes on in the spring and them being in that room,
• 36:29
  Speaker 4: they'll probably grab something from that. The early work with
• 36:33
  Speaker 4: George or Joey or Billy Boyer, who they have comfort
• 36:36
  Speaker 4: from the minor leagues. They'll get to know Anthony Sanders,
• 36:39
  Speaker 4: our new first base coach in base running, those things
• 36:43
  Speaker 4: that you know you just got to go spend forty
• 36:45
  Speaker 4: plus days to get your get your feet on the
• 36:48
  Speaker 4: ground and be yourself, learn a little bit and see
• 36:52
  Speaker 4: where you fit in and in the short term or
• 36:54
  Speaker 4: in the long term. That's a successful spring training for
• 36:57
  Speaker 4: a young player. And we're gonna we're gonna make or
• 37:00
  Speaker 4: that we paved that road for them, and they're gonna
• 37:03
  Speaker 4: hear some things they've never heard before because they've never
• 37:05
  Speaker 4: been in the big leagues before. And the things that
• 37:07
  Speaker 4: we hold ourselves account of. Why do we go first
• 37:10
  Speaker 4: to third so much? Why do I preach you know,
• 37:13
  Speaker 4: do it right or do it again? Why am I
• 37:15
  Speaker 4: obsessed over every detail in a team fundamental? I'm hoping
• 37:20
  Speaker 4: they grab from that. It's because everything matters in the
• 37:23
  Speaker 4: big leagues. And that Game five team that you discussed
• 37:26
  Speaker 4: or that you talked about got to do a lot
• 37:30
  Speaker 4: of things right to get to that to that point,
• 37:32
  Speaker 4: and that point is not good enough anymore.
• 37:35
  Speaker 3: We are nearing the interior a j but just kind
• 37:38
  Speaker 3: of give you the floor a little bit. What are
• 37:40
  Speaker 3: you most excited or most interested in about this team
• 37:44
  Speaker 3: come spring training?
• 37:46
  Speaker 2: Yeah? I like this team, you know, I I like
• 37:50
  Speaker 2: I like the depth.
• 37:51
  Speaker 4: I like that we're going to get a look at
• 37:53
  Speaker 4: a lot of young talent. It's going to challenge some
• 37:56
  Speaker 4: of the ways that guys have been used and guys
• 37:59
  Speaker 4: have played aid, you know, throughout the course of the
• 38:02
  Speaker 4: last couple of seasons. And you know, one of the
• 38:05
  Speaker 4: things that I saw from from at that point in
• 38:07
  Speaker 4: twenty four when this group was largely together and made
• 38:11
  Speaker 4: that run to the playoffs, that opened up everybody's eyes
• 38:15
  Speaker 4: as to what was possible. We go into twenty five
• 38:19
  Speaker 4: with predominantly the same team, and we roll for the
• 38:22
  Speaker 4: first half of the season and it, you know, it
• 38:25
  Speaker 4: felt like, you know, sort of it. We were the
• 38:28
  Speaker 4: dominant team and it was our team, and then we
• 38:30
  Speaker 4: lost it and we had to rally and get really
• 38:33
  Speaker 4: good towards the end of the season to make the playoffs.
• 38:35
  Speaker 4: Like those are hardened lessons I think for a team
• 38:40
  Speaker 4: as they grow up and mature. Now you added Kenley
• 38:43
  Speaker 4: Jansen at thirty eight years old, you bring back a
• 38:45
  Speaker 4: Finnegan in his mid thirties, You bring back Glabor and
• 38:49
  Speaker 4: jack Ass as guys.
• 38:51
  Speaker 2: That chose to be here through through their contract stuff.
• 38:55
  Speaker 4: We're going to combine all of that, and we know
• 38:57
  Speaker 4: exactly what we need to do to be better, and
• 39:00
  Speaker 4: we know exactly what we're playing for. There's no more
• 39:03
  Speaker 4: like trying to convince them how cool.
• 39:05
  Speaker 2: The playoffs were.
• 39:06
  Speaker 4: I did that for the first three years of my
• 39:08
  Speaker 4: tenure here, and I'm they I'm not sure they necessarily
• 39:11
  Speaker 4: got it.
• 39:12
  Speaker 2: And then they experienced it. You know, there's no more.
• 39:16
  Speaker 4: You know, see what happens like This is a team
• 39:19
  Speaker 4: that from the jump is gonna is gonna need to
• 39:22
  Speaker 4: do all the little things well to be good. And
• 39:24
  Speaker 4: I love the personality on this team, and I love
• 39:26
  Speaker 4: the personality of the group that's coming behind our that
• 39:30
  Speaker 4: our fans don't quite know enough about yet. And and
• 39:34
  Speaker 4: and then it's possible, and then you got to go
• 39:36
  Speaker 4: climb one hundred and sixty two games. That's the biggest
• 39:38
  Speaker 4: picture answer you're ever gonna get out of me because
• 39:41
  Speaker 4: it's February second. Because when I get to spring with you, Cody,
• 39:45
  Speaker 4: I'm going back to my day by day we're gonna
• 39:47
  Speaker 4: we're gonna put one foot in front of the other
• 39:49
  Speaker 4: in stack some good days. But this team is good enough,
• 39:53
  Speaker 4: like we can do some things if if we can
• 39:56
  Speaker 4: run the race, you know, step by step a little
• 39:59
  Speaker 4: bit better than we have the last couple of seasons,
• 40:01
  Speaker 4: and we're you know, we got to go prove it.
• 40:06
  Speaker 1: That's a that's a as good a way to end
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: the podcast as anything.
• 40:10
  Speaker 3: AJ.
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: I want to thank you for for coming on and
• 40:13
  Speaker 1: especially right you know, right before you're gonna start drinking
• 40:15
  Speaker 1: out of the fire. Host Cody two, you know, be
• 40:17
  Speaker 1: down in Lakeland and and uh we're excited.
• 40:20
  Speaker 4: Cody takes some time off. Cody takes some time off
• 40:23
  Speaker 4: in Lakeland. He doesn't go wire to wire.
• 40:26
  Speaker 3: Man, don't don't get to the whole thing.
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: I think that's that's the girlfriend clause for Cody.
• 40:33
  Speaker 5: But uh, the company budget, I mean, whatever whatever it is,
• 40:40
  Speaker 5: I just know it's not it's not a full wire
• 40:42
  Speaker 5: to wire for Cody. Alight gives AJ something to poke
• 40:45
  Speaker 5: fun at me for every now and then so that's right, yeah, all.
• 40:49
  Speaker 1: Right, all right, well I want to thank AJ for
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: coming on, and you guys please subscribe to our YouTube channel.
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: Go to Tiger Territory Merch dot com and get your
• 40:57
  Speaker 1: Tiger Territory Merch. Follow us on exprobly know on Twitter
• 41:01
  Speaker 1: at Tiger Territory Underscore. Once again, thank you to AJ
• 41:04
  Speaker 1: for coming on. For Cody Stapenhagen, I'm Karen Steckley. Everybody,
• 41:07
  Speaker 1: have a great day.
• 41:11
  Speaker 4: H